About This Blog

This blog is aimed, specifically, at teaching students of fashion design how to make close-fit stretch-wear patterns. While the public can certainly learn a lot from reading the blog, they may find they need the added guidance of an "in class" fashion teacher ... I'm not going to provide this level of instruction.

Everything you need to design women's swim or dancewear patterns is already here. By combining the various elements of each lesson a design student should be able to create any number of designs. I will not be adding new patterns unless it becomes necessary for one of my classes.

I do have a real life, so I'm not in a position to regularly check or update this blog, so please do read everything thoroughly and feel free to ask or answer questions in the comments section of each topic.

If you get really desparate or feel like throwing yourself from a bridge, contact me on ....

... or you could try Roadster Suntan (anagram of my name) on Skype

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A Blast From My Past

While setting up a Facebook page so old friends can find out where I am (OK so I’ve been terrible at keeping up with people) I recently came across the page of a girl who used to work for me back when I was in Perth, Western Australia. While she probably doesn’t think much of me (I was a lousy boss back then and the fashion industry really messed with my head), I always thought she had great talent in swimwear, both as a machinist and conceptual designer. To my great surprise and joy she’s set up her own business doing custom made one-off swimwear pieces. Her website is Fathom Swimwear which doesn’t seem to link to a great deal at the moment but you can see photos of her work on Facebook: Fathom Swimwear. Carly is very passionate and creative and I’d encourage Perth people to check her out and give her a go. I can’t say how relieved I am to see that I didn’t kill her desire to work in swimwear (phew) … gee I was an ******* back then … in fact I plead with everyone to go and buy something from Carly … I need my Karma balanced out some more!

Time for a Face Lift

Please bare with me while I update the appearance of the site, change a few links around, edit a few pages and basically set up the site so it will maintain itself a little better. Things may get a little messy and look very odd over the next short while but it’ll all come out good in the wash.

From now on you’ll need to be a registered user to leave a comment because I get an awful lot of spam. Even with the best filters there are still a few getting through and requiring moderation. I can speed up the process of getting comments posted if they only come from registered users! changed my mind

I’m still getting a lot of men using the lazy peoples’ pattern generator even though it won’t produce a workable pattern for them. It’s pretty easy to identify the measurement sets and remove them, but it’s time I could otherwise spend on more worthwhile things. If I keep having to remove them for much longer then I’ll need to write a live filter to prevent patterns from actually printing out under certain conditions and this might trap some legitimate womens’ measurement sets and mess up the size distribution data … it’s complicated so I’m just asking people to be a little more considerate of what’s on offer here and how much effort it takes just to maintain.

As I’m not likely to be watching the site very often, you could always contact me via Facebook as Stuart Anderson Cairns, Australia or via Skype as Roadster Suntan (anagram of my name). Just let me know who you are (I’m only going to add registered users so as to avoid spam and stuff). I won’t mind offering simple advice here and there but I don’t always have time for long answers on Skype … those are still best left for the comments section on each post.

OK time for a little inspiration. Everyone knows I have a thing for Poko Pano … it’s minimalist, sexy but not as crude as some of the microkinis around these days …

… ok so there’s no great design achievement there, in fact I’m a little dissappointed with the fit for something so minimalist! So let’s see something a little more cutsie …

… again no great pattern making achievement, but a good demonstration of how fabric print and weight can create a effective design statement … in this case feminine cutie … I love polka dots and ruffles together, although the high use of primary colours hardens the look into something a little too latin for cuurent fashion trends. And just to prove I’m not completely sexist, here’s one from Gregg Homme for the mens wear people (and ladies needing a distracting rush of adrenaline) …

… a supposed mix of swimwear and underwear, but I can’t see much of that making it to the local beach! All right let’s end on a different note …

… take from this what you will. Miss Universe does try to make a bold political statement from time to time. And last but by no means least, here is a print from JL at Blackmilk …

Music1Music2

I’ve said it before, I like what this guy is trying to do. Sheet music on a bodysuit?? It’s original people … even if he didn’t write the music himself I bet none of you thought about trying this! Personally I’d like to see the music staves line up a little better because to me it looks obvious that they don’t (don’t hate me JL) … but what a concept for the loungewear/playwear category. I’d pair it up with some white tights and a short white fluffy mohair (synthetic mohair obviously) sweater … I’d even like to see a strapless version. Of course if we’re going to go the whole cliched stylist thing then why not shoot the catalogue shots in an industrial stlyle loft on a huge king size bed with ruffled sheets … how 80′s cliched can I get in one paragraph? Great concept JL.

Au Revoir, but not Good-bye

It’s with a somewhat heavy heart that I have to admit that I’m not really able to keep regularly updating this site. It’s been somewhat obvious  to me for a while but I’ve struggled to try and keep answering questions on site as well as by email. My kids are getting older and requiring more time, my group of friends has grown, as well as my long list of other interests.

I have absolutely no plans to remove the site. I recognise the value of the information and will leave it up for as long as there’s an Internet that’ll publish it! Maybe one day I’ll get around to publishing it in a book format … god knows I’ve had offers from innumerable publishers. I’ll keep an eye on things and answer question now and then if they haven’t already been answered, but I won’t be adding more patterns or techniques as the basis for working things out is already here. You really don’t need my help any more … just read and experiment and you’ll get there yourself … indeed too many answers can take away from the learning experience.

I wish to thank everyone who has been involved over the years, from proof readers to forum moderators, from CAD illustrators to blog security experts, from students of fashion to veteran home sewists. It’s been a phenomenal journey … teaching this old dog more than a few new tricks along the way. Thanks to everyone. It’s not good-bye … just au revoir for now.

More on Plus Sizes

I know I’ve been away for a few weeks so this looks like a poor excuse for a post but I assure guarentee you that you will learn something about the nature of the fashion industry if you read this. It’s by leading industry expert Kathleen Fasanella … enough said!  

Why existing manufacturers don’t add plus sizes

Posted by Kathleen Fasanella on Aug 1, 2010 at 11:48 am / Fit and Sizing / Trackback 

 Nothing drags out confirmation bias and cognitive dissonance more efficiently than a discussion of plus size apparel. Examples:  

  • Manufacturers are greedy and will do anything for a buck.
  • Manufacturers must not want my money if they won’t make clothes I want to buy.
  • Manufacturers don’t care about me, they don’t care how I feel.
  • Manufacturers are trying to make me feel better by putting smaller size labels in clothes.
  • Manufacturers don’t want to see fat people in their clothes because it devalues their brand.
  • Manufacturers enjoy making fat people look ridiculous… [which devalues their brand]

 Think people, there’s more than the obvious at work. 

…. read more at http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/why-existing-manufacturers-dont-add-plus-sizes/ 

Thanks for all the comments and emails wishing Karen and myself congratulations. Our wedding went beautifully … I couldn’t have hoped for a better day, better family and friends or a more lovely bride! We’re still tickled pink with excitement and loving every minute of it.

I’ve been offered a potential solution for the purple Gottex deep plunge halter so I’m going to give it a try and see what happens.

For all the stumbleupon users that swamped the website while I was away … firstly, welcome … secondly I’ve put the little icon thingy you’re all so obsessed with at the bottom of each post, along with the icons for the other social networking sites … honestly I didn’t think cut and paste was so difficult that you needed a one click button, but go figure (can you feel the sarcasm :-) ?)

Guess Who’s Getting Married?

Hi Everyone. I’m going to be away from the site for a few weeks because I’m finally getting married to my wonderful fiance Karen, with whom I’ve been engaged way too long to put it off any longer :-) . Actually I’m incredibly excited to be tying the knot! We aren’t going away on honeymoon (we already live in paradise!), but we do have family and friends coming from all over the world to celebrate with us and we’re going to be showing them the wonderful Far North Queensland sites. We’re getting married on the 11th of July … the same date as Karen’s father was married 40 years before … and he’s renewing his vows at our ceremony … how’s that for romantic? :-)

I will be in and out and will try to answer questions now and then but please be patient for your replies …  I will answer them at worst in 3 weeks time. Hopefully some of our more experienced sewists will be able to pitch in and answer a few questions while I’m away! Please send us lots of telepathic good luck thoughts if you’re not religious or remember us in your prayers if you are … both will be warmly accepted at this end.

Stare Into The Swirling Disk And Repeat After Me ….

Now I’m going to start out by saying I used to think I was pretty good at this stuff.  I’ve tried many different ways to create a replica of the Gottex one piece picture in the previous post and I’ve not had the level of success I’d hoped for. I have been able to reproduce all the bits in all the right places, only without the level of gathering found in the Gottex sample. I’m a bit disappointed in my self, but then again I never did like gathers in lycra!

I’ve had a number of possible solutions offered, with some being close and some being, well, not so close. I’ve tried to reproduce the closest of these with, as yet, very little success. We need to start from the assumption that this is a deep plunge halter similar to the halter neck one piece on this site, except that it’s plunging all the way down to the waist (or at least the center of the ‘knot’ that sits on the waist). So we’re looking at the following pattern (no seams included) as the start point. Redraw the deeper plunge first.

Helen is correct in firstly moving the very bottom of the front panel to the back panel as well … leaving us with the basic ungathered pattern as illustrated above on the right. Ok here’s where the first problem starts. We can obviously cut and slash to open up the panel and add the volume for the gathers … the amount is dictated by two things: the amount of gather desired and the practical consideration of where the grain of the fabric lies (obviously there isn’t a grain line in a stretch textile, but we don’t want horizontal stretch on the 45 degree line or we’ll be looking at ripples in all the wrong places). Sounds fairly easy, but so far I haven’t managed to resolve both. Below is an illustration of my best result to date: The object is to slash and open such that you have an even distribution of gathering with the plunge at the waistline as close to horizontal as possible and allowing for the same amount of gather from the waist to crotch along the center front. This isn’t easy! Considering my front V is 15 degrees and I’m looking for a 180 degree straight line and I have 5 and a half slashes to open (don’t for get the half at the bottom), I end up with 180-15 = 165 … then 165/5.5 = 30 degrees per slash … or as illustrated below.

Which ends up looking like (no seams still) ….

… but with no concept of how it is yet to be put together. Of those who have sent in remotely plausible solutions, this is where most end up and then say … just twist it together as you sew it … how is that exactly people? How do we do (the illusion of) the knot at the waist? I’ve been offered a number of solutions involving hiding seams behind the twist but none of them result in the type of twist as shown. Helen has suggested the lining plays a part in securing the various sections of gathering and equally suggests this is not a task for the feint hearted … and while I think she’s certainly on to something here I’m yet to work out how she’s doing it (I have asked her but she’s a little busy at the moment). I reckon the solution is right before my eyes only I’m being blinded by a very simply illusion.

 So that’s where we’re at … a partial understanding of the concept without any real solution to how to actually put the twist together. Anyone want to throw in the next step or sugest the appropriate back step?? Anyone have the particular garment in question that they want to sell me? :-)

Anyway, Sorry for the lack of updates … I’m in the middle of planning a wedding so I’m very distracted right now by more important things like dresses,  flowers and wedding cakes!

Are There Such Things As Advertising Standards In Fashion?

I really dislike this topic, there’s never a conclusive answer and most participants have an emotional stake involved … but here it is anyway.

A few days ago I posted a response on another blog with respect to the advertising methods/standards of a company called American Apparel. Now I’m pretty sure most people are already sighing and saying “yeah, yeah we know all about that one”.  I didn’t post in support of American Apparel (I specifically avoided that) … moreover I tried to make an observation of how advertising tends to get more and more sexualised as the years go by.  It seems I received some hate mail telling me I was sexist for supporting AA. Obviously the other blog had some pretty strong anti-AA people on it and my observations didn’t fall in line with what they wanted to hear. I tried to point out that way back in the 1970′s, respectable people saw young women who showed their belly buttons as somewhat less than respectable. No one would care now, would they? Thirty years ago we thought the full brazillian ‘hair cut’ was for porn stars and now you see 2 or 3 adverts for them in your local TV guide each week! Twenty years ago the thong back bikini bottom was only for those “savages down in south america” and now they’re standard issue throughout Mediterranean Europe. Ten years ago the Internet web cam craze was only for selling sex, yet today they come standard with most computers. In ten years time nudity and sexual suggestion will be as acceptable in Australia as it is in France. OK so these comments are pretty hard hitting, but they are an observation of how things have become more and more sexualised over the decades … right to the point that the early controversies no longer concern us … and for those that think I’m trying to support AA, correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t AA only 7-8 years old??

 The next point I raised was that sexualised content in fashion ads has seen for some very successful campaigns over the years (I’m still not saying whether it’s right or wrong, I’m just observing). Indeed the more controversial they were, the more sales they made. Some examples of how sexualised advertising has become over the decades (and of how desensitised we’ve become) are the following …. now don’t visit these if you have an issue with nudity or sexualised imagery … you’ve been warned! …

I really could go on forever here … AA is by no means the first of a very long list although they certainly are pushing the line a bit further. In their time many of these ads got the average community church’s womens group chins wagging. I’m not going to say right or wrong at all … that’s not for me to judge … I’m a patternmaker, not a philosopher or politician. All I’m doing is observing what I’ve seen as a 20 year veteran of the fashion industry. 

Here’s another of my comments …

“Everyone interprets things differently. One person’s art is another person’s porn and it’s been that way for centuries. I recall a big dispute the venue of one of my shows had with the liquor and gaming police because I put a thong back one piece in a swimwear show … the super low cut binkinis were legal, but a thong back one piece with 5 times the fabric wasnt becuse the bottom of the cheeks showed. People came to the show expecting to see half naked women … not one person complained. The police investigated the matter because the thong back photos made it to the local newspaper!!! That was then and times have changed. I say if you’ve got then show it … I’d much rather see people enjoying their sexuality and fashion sense than I would all the negative crap on the TV these days (“hey you wanna buy life insurance cos you’re going to die evetually”, “what happens if you have a serious illness and you ain’t got income insurance”, “hey this product has 4mg less fat than the old product so you ain’t gonna suffer a stroke if you buy our product” … or … “hey if you buy your gf one of our bare nekkid skimpy underwear sets she too will roll all over your white cotton sheets looking horny” …. know what I prefer huh?)” 

OK so I admit that was a little out of the box even for me, but I’d started getting frustrated with all the emotional hype this issue was getting. There’s way too much hate and adversarial behaviour in the world if you ask me … and a little more “make love not war” attitude could really do with a revisit … at least we still have their “exposed belly buttons”.

 I’m no psychologist, but I guess there are a number of issues here … 

  • is this “unhealthy” sexism (I’m just asking the question, not giving an opinion)?
  • is this giving the larger population an inappropriate mindset? We have at least 40 years of evidence one way or the other, don’t we?
  • is this very appropriately targeted advertising?
  • has a line been crossed only now? (They’ve been saying just this for at least years remember)
  • and finally, is the whole debate still as irrelevant as it seems to have been for at least the last 40 years?

I say 40 years because that’s as far back as my personal knowledge goes.

Ok now let’s consider all this from another angle. Speaking from my vantage point in swimwear and limited experience in lingerie … how is it exactly that a company can catch the eye of their intended consumer when the products are all very similar and haven’t significantly changed in design for many years? Firstly, of course, you need to really know your market. Women tend to buy pretty much all their swimwear and lingerie themselves. The research I’ve been involved with (I have an obsession with demographics remember) does show one striking aspect – men will go out and buy lingerie, swimwear, sunglasses, etc if there’s a strong sexualisation of the product in advertising. Some of the advertising industry doesn’t seem to like this and more often than not disputes it, but I’m guessing their studies and surveys are too generalised or the survey participants don’t tell the truth because they’re too embarrassed to talk about their sexuality (I regard as one of litigation and feminism’s side effects – still not saying good or bad here) … but if you sit in the retail shops and watch who walks in after a new campaign you can see it quite clearly. The more striking aspect however is that the number of women walking in is rarely effected by a sexualised campaign. Could it be that the general female community doesn’t have an issue with sexualised content in advertising? I’ll leave it up to you to draw your conclusions.

There is another observation to be made here. First, I’ll start off by saying, I’m a 40-something male, slightly over-weight, Christian upbringing and I have two young children of my own. Now let’s look at who’s in these adverts … they’re all young, fit, healthy looking bodies in the prime of their sexual life. How I wish for those days again but I digress. Who is the intended market if it isn’t young, fit, healthy looking bodies in the prime of their sexual life? And what do young, fit, healthy looking bodies in the prime of their sexual life respond to most of all? Sex! At least that’s how I remember it … how’s that for honesty? Unfortunately I can’t tell you who is doing the critising of these adverts but I can guess the majority of it isn’t coming from young, fit, healthy looking bodies in the prime of their sexual life!! You get the point here don’t you? Have we really forgotten ourselves? Are we so intent on telling others how to better live their lives? Are we jealous or patronising? I know my parents were worried about all the terribly corrupting free love of the 1970′s affecting my poor maleable brain … it affected me so badly I ended up sharing womens’ swimwear patterns freely over the internet (how unenterprising of me!).

I’m not going to go into debates on freedom of speech or whether they’ll get Woody Harrelson to play the part of Don Charney (AA boss) in a new movie … that is irrelevant to me. My observation is simple … given that cultural evolution is a part of human nature, it is healthy for us to have sound arguments (hopefully kind ones) for and against in order for culture to evolve into something better … especially in an age of runaway mass media!

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Pattern Quiz Results

Thanks to everyone who sent me their solutions to the Gottex Plunge Halter pattern quiz. I’m putting together all the data and images as we speak (and waiting on a few more to arrive) … and we should have a presentation available for you very soon!

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Stuart’s To Do List

  1. Break up the sewing questions section into smaller topicsDone
  2. Do a page on Gussets (Maritha)
  3. How to put feet in a catsuit/leggings (Judy) – working on this still
  4. A graph of Bust vs Underbust (Hannah)
  5. Twist front bikini top (Danielle)
  6. Discussion on styles and trends (Georgia)
  7. Seams on a catsuit, what are the alternatives (Ruth) – done
  8. Photochromic, hydrochromic and thermocromic inks (Pasquale)

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You Want To Put What, Where??

Hi everyone. I’ve made a few small changes to the site here and there this last couple of weeks. Firstly the comments now appear from newest to oldest rather than oldest at the top … I’m starting to get more messages than will appear on one page and it seems silly to have to click through several pages to get to the latest message.

The avatars are now working properly. Instead of uploading an avatar for each blog you visit, you can go to http://www.gravatar.com and upload one there, associate it with an email address you use for the blogs and it will appear automatically for every blog thats associated with gravar or uses gravatar as it’s default … gives you much better control and ownership of your images!

As I mentioned in my last update, the Yahoo group has been removed and I’ve put up a page for sewing questions on the blog. As it’s rapidly filling up with sewing questions I might break it up into sections such as;

  1. General sewing questions
  2. Machines and needles
  3. Sewing elastics
  4. Share your patterns
  5. Show off photos of your work

… or other such topics. I’ll give it a bit longer to see how it develops and better define the topics by what you post. Feel free to answer other peoples questions if you think you know the solution.

OK so let’s get on to today’s topic … catsuit seams … or better said as You want to put what, where? This one is always going to be a matter of contention as there are many who believe there is only one way to seam a catsuit. I don’t care a great deal for those who argue the philosophy that fewer seams always mean a better garment … that’s plain and simple rubbish and eminates from a lazy designer trying to reduce costs or some other excuse. Although today’s more superior performance textiles can eliminate the need for some seams, a better fit is achieved not by distortion of a single patter panel but by an all over even tension which is usually be best achieved by more seams, not fewer. This is the first part of the argument. I’m not saying, as yet, that it’s preferable to have more seams … I’m saying that a better fit is achieved by more seams.

The second part of the argument is that of aesthetics. Some people just don’t like visible seams in the traditional places. I can understand those who dislike the centre front seam splitting their crotch in two, however this is more likely to be caused by an incorrectly shaped and positioned crotch curve or by a seam that doesn’t stretch adequately. A properly shaped, positioned and stitched curve will not cut you in two. The problem is that for ready to wear catsuits, tailor curving the crotch seam is impossible! Hence I accept this as a valid arguement.

The issue raised by the second arguement is while you don’t want a center front seam, where are you going to put your crotch seams instead and what compromises on fit are you willing to accept. The obvious alternative is the gymnast leg line. While this creates a really nice fitting crotch, many argue that it defeats the whole point of having a catsuit … you want leggings as part of the garment, not something stitched onto a bodysuit so to speak or you may as well just don a pair of tights. Fair call to a limited degree, but the leg line can be put at any height or position that the designer dictates and it’s almost invisible in darker colours because there’s no leg elastic or tights seams showing underneath the body section … it also allows for a far greater range of movement than any other method of seaming the crotch.

There is another method which suggests runing an inside leg seam up the leg, across the crotch and down the other leg (the 2 panel catsuit) … with only an outside leg seam running up to the armpit (we’ll ignore the sleeve for the moment). These designers depend on the fabric stretching excessively along the center front/back line. I particularly dislike this concept with a passion because it causes a number of problems …

  1. Excessive loss of horizontal tension across the front crotch often resulting in 45 degree ripples either side of the front crotch.
  2. Distortion of the print for the above reason
  3. Flattening of the cheeks at the back
  4. The garment slowly pulling down the legs as you walk  (or even as you put the garment on) resulting in a space under the crotch that chaffs the inside leg and looks like a blow up doll.
  5. Poor movement and sitting generally.

 … that said, it’s a very popular style in low waist tights just about everywhere at the moment. Fortunately some designers add a small horizontal gusset instead of the normal vertical gusset to improve fit and prevent the ripples but I reckon it looks awful. Of course it just doesn’t work for a catsuit because everytime the wearer bends over and stretches the back of the garment the front crotch ripples tear into the front leg tendons at the crotch and the back legs ride up … resulting in cheecks overhanging when the wearer stands up again.  Can you tell I’ve done a lot of these things?

The other thing I don’t like about 2 panel catsuits/tights is the angle that some designers cut the legs at. In order to stop the garment pulling down, they try to spread the legs outward to create more ease in the crotch (like lifting sleeves in a T shirt) … it’s  essentially following bad with worse … it works, but it guarentees not only the 45 ripples either side of the front crotch as before, but also excess height at the top of the inside leg which creates even more ripples from the 45 degree ones down to the horizontal … try to imagine that if you can … it gives the appearance that the lower tummy is much rounder!!

If you saw my two articles on the Art of Making Patterns (Part I and Part II) you’ll see I like to push the boudaries of fit. I’m not scared of seams. If you can get an extremely close fit from a limited stretch fabric with a few extra seams then you’ll sure as hell get a good catsuit pattern from the same concept.  Does anyone really believe more seams can’t be sexy?

I believe there are two objectives to commercial patternmaking … achieving the best fit you can while limiting the cost of production where possible. More seams costs more time and money. Unfortunately (said only half tongue in cheek) the designer will decide where the seams are going to go, so all the patternmaker can do is optomise the fit given the working restrictions (and try to slowly educate the designer on fit realities over time).

OK to summarise so far, we have …

  • Center front/back seam (easily with or without side seams like this guy does)
  • Gymnast style leg lines (must be with side seams)
  • Inside leg and horizontal croch seam (must be with side seams)
  • Simple to complex combinations of the above eg; gymnast front with center seam back or something like my links above.

 … but what about sleeves?  Predictably enough we can treat the sleeves the same way as we treat the legs. An inset sleeve acts just like the gymnast leggings, while a raglan sleeve is much like a center seam  (whereby the body is just a huge gusset if you think about it that way).  The inside leg seam only concept is pretty much like an all-in-one T-shirt, complete with the same problems I might add.

So what’s the best way to do a catsuit? Well as much as I dislike some methods myself, there really is no right or wrong way …. just differing ways to achieve differing results … it’s a compromise. Seams cam be as few or as many as you like. More seams potentially equate to a better fit, whilst less seams potentially equate to a simpler garment with some ripples. Fewer seams also mean it’s often simpler to line up prints, although they may end up more distorted on the body. So what’s your priority? Fit? Aesthetics? Prints? Simple manufacture? Ready to wear size envelopes?

All the above relates to a plain catsuit block/pattern … it does not consider function or purpose, getting in and out of the garment, enclosures (such as zips), or any other special features (hoods, fetish items, panelled waists, block colour, etc) which may well better determine where seams are placed.  Heck just wait ’till we need to put feet in these things!! Yup that’s coming soon too.

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Pattern Quiz

Taking a small leaf from Kathleen’s book I thought I’d pose a question to the clever ones out there. Jennifer from our old Yahoo Group asked if we’d ever solved the pattern to this Gottex number from way back. We did pose it to the group and after a number of tries we gave up. I’ve had a go at this a few times and I think I’m pretty close, but I’ve never managed to get it to sit as evenly as it looks in the photo below … how’s that coming from the alleged guru of stretch fit pattern making huh?

So who reckons they know how to do it? If you click on the photo you can see a larger version. A few things we noted before ..

  • from the waist down we believe it’s one panel.
  • there is a seam that runs along the waist line.
  • the bust panels are two seperate pieces.
  • the outside edge of the halter strap appears to be a straight line (ie; a fold).
  • there is way more fullness in the gathered knot than anyone ever initially believed!

We’re going to need more info than just a few vague comments … we want pictures!! … and so do I! This one certainly makes the request for a twist front bikini top seem a lot simpler.

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Stuart’s To Do List

  1. How to put feet in a catsuit/leggings (Judy) – working on this still
  2. A graph of Bust vs Underbust (Hannah)
  3. Twist front bikini top (Danielle)
  4. Discussion on styles and trends (Georgia)
  5. Seams on a catsuit, what are the alternatives (Ruth) – done
  6. Photochromic, hydrochromic and thermocromic inks (Pasquale) – I know nothing about this but I’m curious so it’s on the list.

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Well Tie Me Up & Paint Me Purple!

Don’t panic, the pressure isn’t getting to me … the caption is just to prove I too can be creative with my blog titles!

Following Molly’s (and others) request for advice on sewing straps … as it really isn’t a pattern making topic I think it’s best covered as a blog post rather than something linked into the menus above. There principally are two ways to do straps. The first is to make a tube and insert elastic into it, the second is to wrap elastic with fabric. Gee that was easy huh? Don’t you remember your science teacher telling you to summarize what you’re going to say first in a really easy way, then explain it all in the body of the text? Ok maybe the pressure is getting to me.

The spaghetti strap as it’s commonly called refers to a flat 4-7mm diameter tube of stretch fabric that’s created by folding a strip lengthwise in half and overlocking down the open side, then turning it inside out. There are a number of considerations that need to be made before you embark on tubes. First and foremost, stretch fabrics don’t handle well when cut into narrow strips. They curl or roll, lose rebound tension, stretch during sewing on most domestic overlockers and if that isn’t enough, they’re damned hard to guide under a machine by hand.

Secondly you need to be aware of how much that strap is going to be stretched by the wearer. Typically when this narrow the strap will stretch well beyond the capacity of the overlocking, meaning the stitches will lock and then break. Some people use a low stretch elastic to solve this problem, some top stitch the tube through the elastic in the endeavour to hold the two together (although this really just stops the elastic turning in the tube). The best bet is to use a closer spaced stitch (more stitches per inch) as this provides greater length before breaking. If you’ve guessed, I’m not a fan of tubes!

When you finally get the tube sewn you have to turn it inside out using a rouleau turner (this is what one looks like although I’d like to find a better picture) … the narrower the tube the more difficult (if not impossible) the task becomes. Finally you need to pull elastic back through the tube without getting it twisted, tangled or catching up on any of the stitching as you go. Certainly not something that’s really economically viable commercially (it takes too much time). While you do see such straps on commercial swimwear it rarely sits flat, it breaks easily when you tie a bow/knot and is usually done this way because the manufacturer lacks the proper equipment. Spaghetti straps are really the choice of home sewists.

A much stronger and faster method is to bind the elastic with fabric using a cover stitch machine and the appropriate attachments (see video below). Domestic overlockers simply lack the strength to do this well (assuming you can buy the correct attachment). Bound straps really are the domain of commercial manufacturers.

The binder is an attachment into which you feed a strip of fabric and a roll of elastic. As the elastic passes through the attachment the fabric strip is wrapped around it and it exists the attachment in precisely the right position to be top stitched by either a two line cover stitch or a single line chain stitch. The advantages are numerous.

  1. I can make a metre and a half of strap in about 15 seconds (see video below).  
  2. It is always a consistent width.
  3. It sits perfectly flat.
  4. Is significantly stronger as the industrial machine uses thicker thread and has a greater extension even on a chain stitch.
  5. You don’t need to attach the strap after you’ve made it … you simply bind the garment the same way and run off the garment to create the strap (have a look at commercially made swimwear and you’ll see it’s all a single step process).
  6. You can simply cut the end of the strap at the correct length with a pair of scissors … no need for tying off or bar tacking (although some people still do) as industrial coverstitching doesn’t unravel.

Below I’ve made a little video of how the binding attachment all flows nicely together to create a strap. Don’t you wish you had one of these at home too :-) . Mine makes a finished bound strap of 8mm width from a 34mm wide strip of Carvico 384 nylon lycra (cut selvage to selvage) and 6mm flat rubber elastic. The elastic is threaded through the top slot where it can be put under varying tension by adjusting the little top screw. The fabric strip is threaded in and out of the feed rack and then into an otherwise reasonably standard bias tape roller. The whole strip pretty much sews itself without any help or feeding from me. If you were to feed in your garment from the left of the foot then the binder would apply the elastic and strip to the edge in exactly the same way. It’s strong enough to bind over several layers of fabric and elastic. I have these attachments in 4mm, 6mm, 8mm, 11mm and 24.5mm. They can be purchased from or made by most industrial machine sellers/mechanics.

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Stuart’s To Do List

  1. How to put feet in a catsuit/leggings (Judy)
  2. Put the Yahoo sewing group on the blog somehow (Stuart) Done
  3. Work out how to put Gravatar.com avatars in comments (Stuart) Done
  4. A graph of Bust vs Underbust (Hannah)
  5. Twist front bikini top (Danielle)
  6. Discussion on styles and trends (Georgia)
  7. Seams on a catsuit, what are the alternatives (Ruth)
  8. Photochromic, hydrochromic and thermocromic inks (Pasquale) – I know nothing about this but I’m curious so it’s on the list.

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Here We Go Again

This morning when I logged into my site I found it had been hacked yet again. Completely lost for words and having tied down every single possible security issue I could I thought it was time to give up. Then checking my email I had a letter from my host (Network Soluions) saying that they had been hacked and several WordPress sites had been attacked. Oh thrills. They nicely suggested that I check everything was in place and that they had already restored my site from back ups so all should be cool. Well it wasn’t … not only did they not ‘fess up, but  they’d messed up a great deal of the file permissions in the process, so much of my site was now even more vulnerable or completely disfunctional.

Really what are you supposed to do at this point? Google has now even marked my site as unsafe! I’ve spent weeks securing everything and years building up a good reputation on Google only to have the whole thing messed up from a side for which I have no control. I’d go and find another host but what’s the point … it could happen with anyone.

Anyhow, I’ve restored everything again and set the security correctly again, but there’s nothing I can do beyond move hosts … and if it comes to that I’ll just shut the whole thing down and convert the site to a book and call it quits! Not very happy today :-(

If you’re hosted by Network Solutions and running WordPress, see these …

  • Details on the Network Solutions / WordPress mass hack (PS: I did have this file permission set correctly as recommended by WordPress so I’m not sure I agree with this author but you should see it if you use WordPress).
  • Alert: WordPress Blog & Network Solutions This is the Network Solutions blog about the issue where they blame WordPress for not automatically setting a file permission …. well I followed WordPress’ advice correctly and did the file permission change when I first installed the blog even though Network Solutions cites this as the cause … my site was still hacked. I don’t think WordPress is the problem
  • Network Solutions and WordPress Security Flaw I’m more likely to believe this report as it describes exactly the problem I had and also highlights that it only occured to Network Solutions driven installs of WordPress (ie; where Network Solutions does the install themself but blames WordPress for not setting permissions correctly, which is something that should be done by the installer). See the conclusion on this blog for summary.
  • Of course if you really need to see that I’m just one innocent victim of a much bigger issue do a search on Google for “wordpress network solutions hack” … this shows the extent of the problem and Network Solutions very poor service when it come’s to letting their paying customers know what’s going on in a timely manner.

Addendum: Kathleen of Fashion Incubator (only the best all round fashion industry blog on the planet)  suggested I try moving hosts to Canvas Dreams … this host runs on wind power!! … I mean how cool is that? See what great things you learn in the face of adversity … I think I’d have moved to an eco friendly solution a long time ago had I known it existed. Look out guys … here I come.

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